So, the Santa Fe is in for repairs after a Kangaroo hit. Because we have been with our insurer for many years, we have a no-cost hire car provided until our car is repaired. We picked this one up on Saturday. (Lucky were with AAMI. )

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Lo and behold there is just 1024km on the clock! A brand spanker, not even footprints on the rubber floor mats.There is plenty to like, its quiet, the cruise control holds on downhill runs by changing down, and up with smooth shifts and no histerics. The seats are comfortable and height adjustable, and the radio can be tuned whie driving, which was impossible in the Kia. Tracy says she can hear the stones in the guards, but theres no hailstorm sound.So I'll tell more once I drive it more, but so far it makes the Cerato look pretty poor. Its easy to see how they outsell them at the same price.

How good are the insurance provisions compared to 30 years ago? Way good!Cheers, Matt.

_________________Life is far too short not to fill it with what you love. - Jackie French.[/size]

Hey Ross.Mate, we still have it! Little car is performing nicely, and we have added 2600k's to the total! Its good and dirty now of course, so I will have to give it the big clean before it goes back. Still has the new car smell, which is nice, and its not that stink you get in new Aus cars like Camrys. Its returning 6.6l/100km has a standard reversing camera (needs it, the back window is a porthole!) and everything works as it should. Its a bit low to climb out of, and the ride a bit firm, but I'm used to something much bigger and softer. And quieter.It still makes the Cerato seem like a billy cart.

But why do we still have it?? Well, longish story. It goes that I picked up the Santa Fe after the initial repair. They had replaced the air con condenser as it was bent, and the radiator as the condensor had been rubbing on it. We only got 3 ks from town and it lost power on a hill. Looked down and the temp guage was all the way up. I swung off the road an shut it down, and after 2 hours of letting it cool added 3 litres of coolant to the radiator. It had not pushed any out onto the ground, so........(inserting litigation avoidance)So, the next day its blowing bubbles, so blown head gasket. Repairer delivered it to the local workshop, they took the head of and its cactus. As its a common rail with ceramic inserts around the injectors and the compression ratio is critical, its not repairable. So a new head was ordered ($4000!) and is hopefully being fitted this week. AAMI are covering all the repairs and the Corolla, at $76 a day. This is the fourth week. Nothing but praise for them.While I'm on the whole insurance thing, we had another claim too. While driving the Sube before we picked up the Corolla, Tracy copped a rock in the windscreen. I have it with Shannons on a multi policy with the Belletts and Wasp. One phone call and its all organised and now replaced, at no cost.So combined with the transport home of the Florian at the expense of NRMA Classic, we have had 3 claims in a month. Am I a fan of insurance? Ooooh yeah!

Cheers, Matt.

_________________Life is far too short not to fill it with what you love. - Jackie French.[/size]

Well Matt,You have had your dose of three car mishaps in a row. That will be it for a long time now!

That reminds me of a spate of issues I had with a 1992 model Celica GT four I owned for 4 years.I purchased it in 1995 with only 65000 km on it. It was like my dream sports car back then...before subie WRX's came about.It drove and handled really well but I discovered it had a broken top engine mount arm and a few dents underneath...I thought...someones given this a bit...of rallying. Luckily, I had taken out a 3 year Swann insurance policy to cover mechanical repairs.So in ordef to repair that broken engine mount, engine had to come out and strip down to the block to machine a new spot for the mount as corner of the block was broken. whilst it was apart I knew I should look at the internals....so head rebuild, new rings and bearings. The insurance paid for pretty well all the labour. I just paid for parts and head rebuild.Next issue when I was living in Perth was a fried gearbox after the internal selector for reverse broke off. That was fully covered and I had a loan car for about about a month on that one..you guessed it a corolla seca.not brand newie though.I then moved to Melbourne for work and then the turbo went...oil seals. By this time the insurance guys were looking for a loophole out of paying for this one...they had worked out I hadn't done a scheduled oil change or documented it when in fact I did the oil change myself 1500km after the rebuild...so they said Ta Tas on that one. Not long after that I traded it for a new Hyundai SCoupe, Which was OK but not not as exhilarating as my GT Four. Best memory of that car....travellling the long roads of WAwith my brother spooling up the turbo to hit 195kmh...only once.

Another time insurance has come to the rescue! Its one of those things we never want to use, but really glad we have if we have to.

So I took the corolla back yesterday, and we finally have the Santa Fe back. 33 days and 3300km later, the little car was quite adequate transport. Did everything we needed it to and averaged 6.6l/100km.But its so good to be back on a car with way less road noise, I can see out of, I can get into without my hat being knocked off, and I don't have to climb up out of! And steep angle driveways dont make me have to creep cautiously along. Wheels mag don't understand the popularity of SUVs, but they are just so practical, for us anyway.

The list price of the base Corolla is $20,000. A new Bellett in 1967 was around $1,900. The average weekly wage in 67 ws $61. Now it is $1136, so thats almost 19 times as much. The relative price of the Corolla should be around $36,000. Cars are so cheap now! And people buying Belletts new really had to work for them!Thanks AAMI,and cheers, Matt.

_________________Life is far too short not to fill it with what you love. - Jackie French.[/size]

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